House Fire Leaves 1 Dead, 1 in Hospital

Screams filled the evening sky as family members try to cope with what happened Monday in a South Memphis community. Two children, 2-year old Catareon Dunn and 3-year old Ladareon Dunn, were left home alone shortly before a fire broke out. 

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Officials responded to a house fire call at 1236 Effie Road off Mt. Moriah.

The two boys were left unattended while their mother and aunt left the house to go drop off a friend. Sometime after that, 911 received a call from neighbors saying the house was on fire.

Neighbors say they heard screams coming from the house and rushed to the back door to try and rescue the children. However, when they got there, the flames and smoke were too powerful for them to enter.

When the children were finally pulled from the house, onlookers described them as looking like "rag dolls." Both were rushed to the Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in critical condition. Ladareon died shortly thereafter. Catareon remains in critical condition.

The children’s aunt, Marilyn Wilson, who left the house with the mother, said she had no regrets about leaving the children home alone, “No, I really don’t because if they had been there by themselves, I don’t know if the boys set the house on fire or somebody threw something in there to set it on fire. I really need to get in there to see if my purse burned up. I had my Food Stamp Card and everything in there.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Memphis Fire Department.

The mother of the children has since been taken into custody. Please click the story link below for the latest update:

MOTHER OF FIRE VICTIMS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY